New Year’s Eve Events and Polar Plunges

Just about every restaurant and bar in the state will host a special event on New Year’s Eve. Here is just a small sampling of some of the more interesting ones we could find. But pick your favorite place and you’ll ring in the new year with style.

New Year’s Eve

Roger Ceresi’s All Starz: New Years Eve: One of the hottest rhythm and blues horn bands in the country. 8pm. The Knickerbocker Music Center, 35 Railroad Ave, Westerly. knickmusic.com 

Neal And The Vipers 5th Annual New Year’s Eve Bash: A blues group. 8pm – 1am. CCA, 3481 Kingstown Rd, West Kingston. courthousearts.org

NYE Dinner & Dance Party Featuring Dezyne: Celebrate New Year’s Eve. 8pm. Twin River, 100 Twin River Rd, Lincoln. twinriver.com

Studio 54 NYE: Rooftop at the Providence G is 70s glam themed, with firepits and an enclosed rooftop view. Food and champagne of course too. 9pm. Providence G, 100 Dorrance St, PVD. rooftopattheg.com

Great Gatsby New Year’s Eve Ball: Dress like it’s 1920 and you read the dial on your time machine wrong. Themed costume party and multi-course dinner. Public Kitchen & Bar in the Renaissance Hotel, 120 Francis St, PVD. publickitchenprovidence.com

NYE One Providence Ball Drop: Details haven’t been announced yet, but there will be fireworks and the mayor will ring in the new year. These have been a great way to celebrate for the past couple of trips ‘round the sun, and will certainly take place around Waterplace Park, making the Skyline Lounge an excellent vantage point, with drinks and food for the occasion.

Providence NYE Bar Crawl: This is one of those national things that finds participants in each city and packages them for participants — so they can be a little random, and there’s no actual person in RI running them This one has $30 tickets plus tax and fees, which gets you “FREE access” to four bars (How is that “free” – you just paid for it?). However, the night starts at Muldowneys, one of the most authentic and fun local bars you could name. And from there crawls you to three mystery bars. eventbrite.com/o/nye-bar-crawls-18376908148

New Years Eve Bowling Bash 2020: Party. 8:30pm. Lang’s Bowlarama, 225 Niantic Ave, Cranston. fb.com/Langsbowlarama

Island Saturdays NYE: Caribbean vibes for New Year’s. Alchemy, 71 Richmond St, PVD. alchemyri.com

NYE Masquerade Ball: “Masked in Mystery” with black and gold masks and a red carpet, creating a colorful New Years. The Trap, 195 Old Forge Rd, East Greenwich. thetrapri.com

Havana Nights: Ocean House has a Havana/Caribbean themed black tie event. 1 Bluff Ave, Watch Hill. oceanhouseevents.com

Globally Inspired NYE: Dinner at Eli’s Kitchen will feature dishes from around the world, with gluten-free, vegan and allergy friendly variants. 40 Market St, Warren. eliskitchenwarren.com

NYE Bonfire: A Ninigret Park tradition supervised by the Charlestown Fire Department and featuring free donuts and hot chocolate from Dunkin. Sounds hot. 4:30 – 7pm. 5 Park Lane, Charlestown. charlestownri.org

NYE 2020 at AS220: It’s the year of AS. See it in with What Cheer? Brigade, Joe DeGeorge Sax Machine, Brian 4 Ever, Math the Band, Dead Cat Orchestra, Eric and the Nothing, Joe-Lou Art and the Providence Holiday Saxophone Choir (bet you didn’t even know that was a thing!). AS220, 115 Empire St, PVD. as220.org

NYE Cooking Class and Party: MC Chef Walter Potenza will show you how to recreate a NYE dinner from Italy (or ten) — then the whole class will share and eat their work. 7pm – midnight, reservations required. 286 Atwells Ave, PVD. chefwalterscookingschool.com

Electricity Social Club NYE Bash: Something a little more bashy for New Years. BYOB to this lifestyle club, and hang out on the dance floor, in private rooms, or in their dungeon. 95 hathaway St, PVD. electricitysocialclub.com

Newport Blues Cafe NYE: Music, party favors, champagne and a Mic Drop at midnight. 286 Thames St, Newport. newportblues.com

Roaring 20s NYE Costume Party: Another chance to whip out that flapper dress or fedora, with music by Harbinger Entertainment and the Nexus. Dusk, 301 Harris Ave, PVD. duskprovidence.com

1920s New Years Eve: The Marriott Downtown is celebrating with the World Premier Band, a 1920s theme, dinner, champagne and wireless internet! Plus breakfast and late check out if you stay over.

Totally 80s New Year’s Eve with Shermer High: Channel your pretty in pink breakfast club to this era theme, accompanied by a buffet, champagne and 80’s rock cover band Shermer high. The Last Resort, 325 Farnum Pike, Smithfield. thelastresortri.com

Chad Daniels – NYE: A night full of laughter. 7:30pm & 10:30pm. Comedy Connection, 39 Warren Ave, East Providence. ricomedyconnection.com 

Polar Plunges

Newport Polar Plunge. Yell, “Shrinkage!”, hold your nose and jump into the ocean (not the bay) at Easton’s Beach. This plunge has been going on since 1969, making it the chill grand-daddy of plunges. It benefits A Wish Come True. Plunge at noon. Atlantic Beach Club, Memorial Blvd., Newport. gonewport.com or Facebook.

Fall River – 7th annual Sandy Beach Polar Plunge to benefit Forever Paws. Fall River Mayor William Flanagan jumps in right along with the rest of the pet lovers in this one. Contact Forever Paws for more info. facebook.com/events/559139568234191, 508-678-0804 or foreverpaws.com

Penguin Plunge. This is the 14th annual event to benefit the WARM Center (making it the best thematic match between charity and ice cold water). Expect lots of fowl jokes at the Windjammer Surf Bar in Westerly. Register at 10:30 for some noon swimming. warmcenter.org

The Frozen Clam Dip. At Goddard Park, this raises clams for the RI Mentoring Project and is organized by Laid Back Fitness. 11am. 1095 Ives Rd. East Greenwich. laidbackfitness.com

Block Island Plunge. Hosted by the BI Lions Club. The plunge is at noon at the Town Beach, 7 Corn Neck Rd., Block Island. Soon to be posted at blockislandchamber.com 

Narragansett Pier Plunge. This is a fundraiser for the Narragansett Lions Club. What is it with Lions and really cold water? Registration at 10 am. Narragansett Town Beach. narragansettlionsclub.com

The Pub at Matunuck Polar Plunge: Takes place at high noon. 907 Matunuck Beach Rd, Wakefield

Tiverton Yacht Club: This plunge supports the Tiverton Public Library. Takes place at noon. Grinnells Beach

Other rumored plunges: there’s no online info as of this writing, but folks are going so these must be real:

Farnham Farm, the historic site on Prudence Island, built in 1805, typically hosts a polar plunge at noon.